“Andrew Breitbart was no fan of circular firing squads or purity tests. Andrew knew the most important thing in electoral politics was to win.” – Derek Hunter, Townhall.com . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The above-quoted statement by Townhall columnist Derek Hunter appears in his column “The Circular Firing Squad” in which Hunter rebukes Breitbart pundit Matthew Boyle. Hunter goes on to say …
What is his [Boyle’s] purity test? From his embarrassing temper tantrum this week it seems to be a willingness to bow to Boyle’s demands for comments and interviews whenever the urge hits him. I don’t know what you call that, but it’s not journalism.
This story just goes to show that not only are conservative pundits quite willing to critique their own, but also, it is acceptable for conservative pundits to do so. That is a good thing, because even a conservative pundit can go too far by engaging in ad hominem, extrapolations, straw-man arguments, false dilemmas, circular logic, etc.
Granted, moderate and liberal pundits can be guilty of the same errors.
Sadly, any pundit, regardless of political leanings, can develop an over-inflated ego, which, in turn, hinders the pundit from admitting to making the aforementioned errors.
Hopefully, Derek Hunter’s rebuke of Matthew Boyle will help the latter to keep his ego in check.
